Salem Communications Corp. will have to find someone else to helm its “RedState Gathering” in 2016.
As exciting as this year’s event appears to be — especially amid the high drama of Editor-in-Chief Erick Erickson‘s decision to ban GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump from attending — he won’t be in charge next year. He’s leaving the site. He wants to focus on his radio show.
Erickson’s departure appears to be a buried lede, as reported in a rather understated way in The Atlantic and before that, tucked away in the penultimate graph of a story on an AJC.com blog.
Erickson, a Fox News contributor, cut the cord with Trump after the candidate made a remark about Fox News debate host Megyn Kelly that has people insisting that Trump said Kelly was menstruating on the night of the debate.
Except Trump never said anything about her cycle. He told CNN’s Don Lemon that he did not like the way she treated him and that she had “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.” He also called her a “lightweight” and said she wasn’t very good at her job.
Despite not knowing what he meant, and not accepting his explanation that he wasn’t referring to Kelly’s period, a lot of media outlets — the NYT, the Telegraph, Guardian to name a few — are insisting that the blood coming out of her eyes is really in reference to, go figure, her vagina.
And this from UK’s Metro:
The NYT‘s Eric Thayer announced that Trump’s bloody remarks most definitely involved Kelly’s period:
“Donald J. Trump’s suggestion that a Fox News journalist had forcefully questioned him at the Republican presidential debate because she was menstruating cost him a speaking slot Saturday night at an influential gathering of conservatives in Atlanta.”
Even without Trump in Atlanta, most of the online chatter appears to be about him. Campaign reporters are salivating at every thought related to Trump and Erickson.
“Erickson says he’s gotten emails re: Trump that call Megyn Kelly a whore, call him gay, and call POTUS the n-word,” wrote MSNBC political reporter Kasie Hunt on Twitter.
Townhall Editor Katie Pavlich‘s entire Twitter feed, for instance, appears to be devoted to the Trump-Erickson feud. Oh, by the way, like Carly Fiorina, she, too, stands with Megyn Kelly (eye roll).
1. For the record: You are not supported here, which was made clear by the decision to pull your invite @realdonaldtrump @RedState #RSG15 2. Huh, interesting how he misquoted himself. He said “wherever” not “whatever.” 3. Not surprised at Trump’s comments about Megyn Kelly, he is, after all, best friends with Bill Clinton #DumpTrump
How exciting for her! Pavlich is even being sought out as an expert source on the topic of Trump being disinvited from the event.
Vince David from The Vindicated Show Podcast writes, “Katie, would love to have you briefly on my podcast to talk about Trump & how he’s not welcomed.”
And this: “BOOM,” she exclaimed, after Erickson wrote, “Must be a pain in the ass to not be able to buy somebody.”
The Mirror imagines Trump, who thinks Erickson is a “total loser,” won’t miss Erickson’s presence on the site or in the driver’s seat of next year’s event.
